Soap manufacture



Sapt. 20, 19532. J. A. SCHWANTES SOAP MANUFACTURE Filed March 15, 1931 4Sheets-Sheet l V J. A. SCHWAN TES SOAP MANUFACTURE SephZO, 1932-.

Filed March 13, 1931- 4 She ts Shegt. g

Sept. 20, 1932. J. A. SCHWANIY'VES SOAP MANUFACTURE Filed March 13, 19314 Sheets-Sheet 3 P 1932. J. A. SCHWANTES 1,878,547

SOAP MANUFACTURE Filed March .13, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Sept.29, 1932 UN'WE aerate JULIUS A; SCEWANTES, OE WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN,ASSIGNOB TO GOLGATE-IPALM V OLIVE- PEET COMPANY, OF'CHICAG-O, ILLINOIS,A COBPGRZETZON 0F BELAWARE SOAP I'IfANUFACT'URE Application filed March13, 1931. Serial No. 522,320.

The invention relates to soap manufacture.

Heretofore in the manufacture of soap it hasbeen customary to deliverthe soap from the, plodder in long bars, several of which are allowed toaccumulate and then an operator takesthese long bars to a soap cuttingapparatus in which they are cut up into a number of small cakes andanother operator sees that these cakes are removed from the cuttingapparatus and delivered'to a conveyorby which they are taken tofinishing apparatus and then to the labelling and packingmechanis'm. Asan example of a cutting apparatus that has been heretofore usedrequiring two operators, reference may be hadto my prior U. S. PatentNo. 1,760,087, filed May 27, 1930. Furthermore, in connection with anyofthe cutting mechanisms that have been heretofore used, there is always acertain amount of waste from each of the long bars after the cuttingoperation that has to be taken care of.- One object of the presentinvention is to improve that part of the process of soap manufacturewhere the soap cakes are formed by forming the soap into cakes directlyat or as it is discharged from the plodderv so that. the laborheretofore necessary in handling and cutting thelong bars of soap. intocakes is eliminated.

A. further object of the inventionis to provide an apparatus by whichthe soap cakes may be formed as'a continuous process and by which thesoap cakes may be polished or finished and completely ready forpackagviewof an apparatus embodying the invention and'for use inconnection with the method parts being broken away and parts being shownin section;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1, parts beingbroken away and parts being shown in section;

'Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;. Fig.4c is a detail vertical sectional'view taken on the line 4- of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 55 of'Fig; 1; v

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken on line 66'o f Fig. 2

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view taken on line 77 of Fig. 2; V

Fig. 8 is a front view of the nozzle;

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional View taken .on the broken line 99 of Fig.8.

Referring to Fig. 4, the numeral 10 designates the mouth or nozzleof'any suitable plodder mechanism and into which nozzle the soap isforced by the usual feed screw or soap is forced through this nozzle 10it is actedupon by'a pair of pusher members 11 r mounted on oscillatoryshafts 12 moved as hereinafter described: The pusher members 11 are forthe purpose of quickly forcing the soap ahead when the die drum ormember is at rest and when receding stop the movement of the soap at theoutlet at the timethe member 15 is in motion. The front end of thenozzle 10 is provided with a acket space 13 forthe circulation of asuitable heating medium therethrough when desired. A noze zle memberleis adapted to fit within the recessed front end of the nozzle 14, andits front face lt'is curved to conform to the curvature of a moldcarrying member 15 which is providedwith a plurality of radiallydisposed cake. mold cavities 16. The member 14 is yieldingly heldagainst the member 15 by a series of springs 15? mounted iu recesses 16'and engaging lugs 17 on the member 14, one of the springs being shown inFig. 9. These cavities are preferably open at the back but are backedduring a portion of the travel of member 15 by a relatively fixedbacking plate 17 Then any one of 'the mold cavities 16 is presented tothe: mouth .ofthe plodder as shown in 1, it will be seen that the soap Swill be discharged directly from said mouth into said cavity and as themember 15 moves. 7

to its neXt position, the soap in the cavity is cut off from the soap 1nthe nozzle 10 and the by soap forced into the same that the soap isformed directly into a cake at this point and g that by this me hod offorming the cake the usual cutting of the soap into cakes from long barsand the services of operators to accomplishthe same have beeneliminated. The advantages derived from practicingt-his methsdmay ofcourse be obtained by apparatus other than that shown and describedherein but the apparatus herein shown constitutes a preferred form ofapparatus for carrying out the method expeditiously and continuous- 1yand will now be described in detail.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the numeral designates generally the mainframework of the machine supported on suitable legs or uprights 21; and22 is the main power take off shaftjournalled in bearings 23 suitablysupported by rods 24 below the main frame and carrying sprockets 25, 26and 27, see Fig. 5. The sprocket is adapted to be connected by a chain28 to any suitable source of power. Sprocket 26is connected by a chain29 to a sprocket 30 on one of the parts of a transmission shaft 31 andsprocket 27 is connected by chain 32 to a sprocket 33 on a shaft 34. Theshaft 31 is connected by a double chain and sprocket drive includingsprockets 35 on said shaft, chains 36, and sprockets 37 on ashaft 38 tosaid last named shaft. A. Geneva mold carrying member or carrier 15. The

shaft 31 is journalled in suitable bearing brackets 43 mounted on themam frame, the

shafts 38 and 39 are journalled in the spaced brackets 44 and 45whilethe shaft 42 is j ourna-lled in bearings 46 mounted in a housing 747 suitably secured to the brackets 44 and 45. The Geneva stop gearingincludes the Geneva: toothed wheel 48 on the shaft 39 having the toothslots 49 engaged by the pin or roller 50on an arm 51 secured to theshaft38 and having-lock recesses 52 cooperating with the lock disk 53 on theshaft 39 whereby as the shaft 38 is rotated continuously, the

' shaft 39.is given an intermittent or step by step rotation which istransmitted through the gears 40 and 41 to the shaft 42. r

The member 15 is in the form of a drum and the mold cavities 16. areformed in the flange of the drum at radially spaced points and arepreferably provided with hard metal 7 linings 54.

The backing plate 17, is as shownin Figs.

lindrical face'of the drum or carrier 15 and is of T section with itsflange secured to a relatively stationary angle bracket 55 which howeveris mounted for movement as hereinafter, described along with other partsof'the mechanism to withdraw the plate 17 from the interior of thecarrier when desired.

The shafts 12 for the pusher members 11 carry intermeshing gears 56 andone of these shafts is oscillated to in turn move the other shaft, byits adjustable connection through a crank arm 57 on it to one end of aconnecting rod 58, operatively and adjustably connected at 59 to one ofa series of radially spaced pin openings 60 in a crank disk 61 on theshaft operated 'byeccentrics or cranks from-the v shaft 31.

Referringto Fi s. 2, 4, 6 and 7 the plunger 64' has squared portions 64slidably guided in relatively fixed guides 66 and secured by a clampingboss 67 to a block 68 to which a shaft or-rod 69 is firmly secured. Thisshaft 69 is slidably mounted in relatively fixed bearing brackets 70 andpivotally connected by a pin 71 to the forkedend 72' of a rod '73- Ywhich is mounted in guide 74 of a cap memmer 7 5 and has a headed endengaged by a spring 76' seated in said capmember, which is securedto thebig end bearing or eccentric strap 77 by bolts 78, said bearing having aroller bearing journal 79 mountedion a crank or eccentric 80 formed on apart of the shaft 81. This construction thus provides areciprocatingdrive movement for the die 62, the spring 76 permitting a predeterminedpressure to be impressed by the die on the soap cake. The drive for theplunger 65 is similar to that ust described and as shown in Figs. 2 and4. This plunger has a squared portion 65slidably guided in therelatively fixedguide 81 and provided with a pivot pin 82 connected tothe forked end of a rod 83 whichis slidably mounted in a guide 84secured to the eccentric strap 85 and is yieldingly connected thereto bya spring 86 interposed between a flange 83' on said rod and said strap,the rod and'spring being operatively held in position by a capmember 871 secured to said strap. This strap or big end bolted to the flanged endof the shaft 42 I bearing of the-yieldable connecting rod thus formedhavmg a journal bearing 88 mounted are on another crankportion 89 of theshaft 31 l to act to: force the, die 63' inwardly and through the spring86 impart apredetermined pressure to the cake, the dies 62 and 63 actingconj ointly under the action of their springs and drive to thus compressand put the final finish on the cake before its delivery to thepackaging apparatus.

The scoap cake is now finished ready to be discharged from the carrier15 and conveyed by the conveyor D to the wrapping mechanism. Fordischarging the finished cake from the carrier a push out plunger 90 ismounted to reciprocate at the discharge station G into and out of thecavity 16. Said plunger, as show in Fig. i is carried by a crank arm 91on a shaft 92 and steadied pivotally supported guide iink 93,- the shaft92 as shown in Fig. l, carrying a crank arm 91 operatively'connected toan eccentric or cran 95 on the shaft 31 by along con necting rod 96.

in order that ready access to interior may be had at times, such as whenthe machine is first being started, or at other times when desired, theparts havebeen so constructed and arranged that those working ordisposed inside the carrier may be removed therefrom. For this purposethe supporting bracket for the plate 1'? is mounted on the bearingportions 70 of a bracket 97 which carries the bearings for the plungershafts 6%,65 and 69 and also the shaft 92 and which bracket is securedto a iovable bed plate 98 which also carries the bearings 43 for thefront section of the shaft 31, said shaft being divided into sections asshown in Fig. 2 by the tooth coupling members 99 so that it may beseparated at this point when the bed plate 98 is moved forward. Formoving the bed plate, it is provided on its bottom with suitable racks100 meshing with spaced gears 101 on a manually operated shaft 102journalled in the main framework of the machine and provided with a handwheel 103 and for re-alining the parts of the coupling members 99, theother shaft section is provided with a hand wheel 10%.

From the foregoing it will be noted that by forming the soap directlyinto cakes as 16 soap issues from the discharge end of the plodder, Ihave reduced the number of operations ordinarily employed in forming thesoap into cal es and that waste attendant on the use of former methodshas been eliminated. It is also to be noted that with the presentconstruction the soap is expeditiously finished after being formed intothe cake without any handling by an operator.

I desire it to be understood that this inand finishing the cakes whileon said conveyor means.

2. The'combination of a movable carrier member provided with a series ofcake mold cavities, meansfor charging said cavities with soap, means forpressing the soap cakes to put -a finish on the same while onsaidcarrier, 'and'means for discharging the flnlshed cakes from saidcarrier.

' 3; The combination of an intermittently movable carrier providedwith aseries of cake mold cavities, means for charging said cavities withsoap, a pair of oppositely movable yieldingly mounteddies for engagingopposite sides of'the soap cakes while on said carrier, and means fordischarging the finished cakes from said carrier.

4. The combination of an intermittently movable rotatable carrier havingan annular flange portion provided with a series of mold cavities, meansfor charging said cavities with movable rotatable carrier having anannular flange portion provided with a series of mold cavities, meansfor charging said cavities with soap, a reciprocating die working insideof said flange against one side of the soap cakes in said cavities, areciprocating die disposed outside of said flange working against theopposite side of the soap cake, a movable plunger mounted within saidcarrier to discharge finished soap cakes from said cavities.

6. The combination of an intermittently movable rotatable carrier havingan annular flange provided with a series of mold cavities, a backingplate underlying a portion of said flange, means for charging'saidcavities with soap, a reciprocating die working inside of said flangeagainst one side of the soap cakes in said cavities, a reciprocating diedisposed outside of said flange working against the opposite side of thesoap cakes, means disposed within saidflange for discharging finishedsoap cakes from said carrier, and a movable support for said plate, thedie inside said flange and said discharging means for moving the sameoutside of said flange to provide access to the interior of saidcarrier.

7. The combination of a rotary carrier having a mold carrying portionand a hollow interior, finishing means within said interior acting onsoap deposited in the molds in said carrier, means for intermittentlyrotating said carrier, means for operating said finishing means, acommon drive shaft for said two lastnamed means havin se arable arts andmeans for moving said finishing means and its operating means and a partof said drive shaft relative to sand carrier, lts rotating I means andthe other shaft to provide access to the interior of said carrier.

8. The combination with the delivery nozzle of a plodder, of oscillatorypusher member Working Within said nozzle, saidnozzle having a curvedface, a member having a portion curved to conform With said curved faceand in working engagement With the same, said member having a moldcavity therein adapted to register with said delivery nozzle to receivea charge of soap therefrom, and means for 'moving said last named memberto bring said cavity into and out of registry with said nozzle.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

JULIUS A. SCHWANTES.

